I’ve been reading a lot of websites recently on a wide variety of topics and I noticed that I was leaving most websites after reading the first paragraph. Why would I leave a website so quickly if I’m after information about that topic?
Leaving so soon?
The easy answer is that I was not gripped by what I read. When writing content you need to take in to account your readers as they will evaluate your website on what they read. If your content is not clear, doesn’t flow or is confusing then you will find that your readers turn very quickly in to ‘leavers’. Your visitor retention will be very low and you may end up scratching your head and wondering why.
It’s about search engines too
It’s a similar case with Google. Back in 2002 Google launched a secret “books” project. Over the last 7 years they have been studying how people write and the context in which languages are used. It is very interesting that they found the most popular books were written in a logical manner that the reader could follow. It’s no surprise that this forever advancing technology is incorporated in to Google’s ranking algorithm. You may find that if your content doesn’t flow correctly then your Google rankings are not as good as they could be. I’m not saying that this is the most important factor in your ranking but it doe splay it’s part. As Google continues it’s Books Project I expect that over time this will become increasingly important.
What should I do now?
Go on to your home page of your website and read your content. When you get to the end, you could be thinking one of many things. Either “I’m bored”, “I still have no idea who this company is”, “I still don’t know what the company can do” or if your content is written correctly then you will be picking up the phone to call yourself.
Finally:
Remember you should introduce your company to the reader, explain what you do and even mention the unique selling points to your business.
